How do i paint this please ?

Yes but why, black would be an awful colour at radiating heat.

 

Tee-hee - this is going to start an argument...

Black is better at radiating heat .

(Since the heat source is from the actual black object.)

 

Shrek, from my own personal experience, I have had no problems painting rads in simple emulsion paint. Obviously won't be as durable as 'proper' rad paint, but if you don't scuff it, it won't matter.

(Ie - stop draping yer socks and grundies on it...)

Even then, some emulsion paints are designed to be scrub-able.

 

I guess black might be ok at radiating heat...but no good at reflecting heat that hits it, i.e.black absorbs heat that hits it,so as the radiator is itself the source of the heat,it shouldn't matter..anyway doesn't a 'radiator' (speshly a double one) actually work mainly by convection?

 

Yep x all you've said.

But, since a rad will radiate more heat if it's painted black, then it will indeed emit more heat to close objects - objects nearby will be heated up more. (The actual rad's surface temp will also be higher.) These heated objects, along with the radiator surface itself, will then convect warmed air around the room; that's effectively what convection is, 'radiating' the heat from the rad to the air immediately around it.

 

Why will a black rad radiate more heat than any other colour DA?
Wont it's surface temp only be hotter cos it absorbs the heat it's just given off?

 

Black silk...?

cough.

Anyways, Jules, I remember it from my physics class circa 1972...

Two metal containers, one shiny polished exterior and one matt blacked. Both filled with identical quant of hot water. The water in the matt black one lost heat more quickly as it radiated the heat out from its surface more effectively.

Infra-red radiation - it ain't hardly gonna stop in mid air and be sucked back to the same surface, is it...

Mind you - good point. In theory if the water temp was less than the room temp, then the matt black container should warm up faster too by absorbing the room's heat.

Sheeeesh, nothing's easy, is it...

 

I would have thought that the colour makes not a lot of difference.
The colour usually determines how much heat is reflected or absorbed.
But absorbed from the surrounding ambiance, ie the room air.
So more likely to make the room cooler than if white.
Heat is inside the rad and needs to leave the rad, not be drawn back.

S'wot I fink.

Mr. HandyAndy - Really

 

Interesting experiment DA! Never did anything like that in physics..
Tha water temp isn't gonna be less than room air temp unless heating was turned off cos it was too hot anyway.. Did you know...a polar bear's fur is actually transparent, and like little tubes(for insulation),and it's skin is...black!

 

on you marks !!!!

 

Paint them white!!!

 

Yer yanking ma chain...

The colour of the rad obviously won't have a great effect of how much it radiates, but matt black will radiate more than white - or silver.

(I'm about to build a rad cover for my dining room rad - so it's already been painted matt black in anticipation, to maximise heat output. The inside surface of the rad cover will also be matt-blacked so's it absorbs as much radiated heat from the rad as possible, so the cover itself will also get as warm as possible - so's it'll convect more... )

I think.

 

The polar bear bit is true..honest guv..i saw it on a nature programme! DA, i trust your rad cover will be well vented top n bottom,for convection to take place?

 

Use blackboard paint, and then lacquer. 2 schools of thought on this.... With rad hot or not. Experiment on a back area 1st..

 

Cheers, Jules - nature never ceases to fascinate. That gawd cove is well cool.

Rob - nah, I used matt black masonry paint .

 

You can paint with an ordinary emulsion then I've used a floor varnish to give it some protection

 

Yes, you could. But why the 'ell would you want to...